MicroRNA‑503‑5p improves carotid artery stenosis by inhibiting the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells
Zhiyuan Yan, Hong Wang, Junjun Liang, Yuan Li, Xiaodong Li
Abstract
Carotid artery stenosis (CAS) is a common arteriosclerotic vascular disease affected by vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and diagnostic value of microRNA (miR)‑503‑5p in asymptomatic patients with CAS and to further explore the effect of miR‑503‑5p on VSMC proliferation. The levels of miR‑503‑5p in the serum of 62 asymptomatic patients with CAS and 60 healthy controls were detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR. The association between miR‑503‑5p and the clinical characteristics of the patients was analyzed using the χ<sup>2</sup> test. A receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic value of miR‑503‑5p to distinguish asymptomatic patients with CAS from healthy controls. Finally, miR‑503‑5p inhibitors and mimics were transfected into VSMCs <em>in vitro</em> to detect the effect of miR‑503‑5p on the proliferation ability through Cell Counting Kit‑8 assays. The serum levels of miR‑503‑5p in asymptomatic patients with CAS were significantly reduced as compared with those in healthy individuals. The expression levels of miR‑503‑5p were significantly associated with diabetes and arterial stenosis. Furthermore, the area under the ROC curve was 0.817, the specificity was 79.03% and the sensitivity was 83.30%, which proved that miR‑503‑5p had a high diagnostic accuracy in patients with CAS. Finally, the in vitro proliferation assay indicated that overexpression of miR‑503‑5p significantly inhibited the proliferation of VSMCs. In conclusion, miR‑503‑5p is a potential diagnostic biomarker for asymptomatic CAS and overexpression of miR‑503‑5p may inhibit the proliferation of VSMCs and improve CAS.